Tell Your Tale
Episode Seven, Season Two, of Beauty.
Enjoy <3
Tell Your Tale[]
“You think this is a good idea?” Finchwing asked again as she padded alongside Appleleaf, “I mean why are we visiting Pinesong again?” The two of them were headed for the prisons of the Beauty.
“Amberfrost thinks it’s a good idea,” Appleleaf replies.
Finchwing rolls her eyes. “I didn’t ask what Amberfrost would think,” she muttered, “I asked if you thought it was a good idea. Obviously Amberfrost liked the idea or else we wouldn’t be here.”
Appleleaf hesitated. “I don’t know. She’s one of the remaining cats from the tales they tell in the Academy. She did assist the poor, however, so I suppose she could help us.”
The brown she-cat shrugged. “I don’t think we’re going to learn anything from this,” she frowned, “I mean her mission and ours are pretty different.”
Appleleaf didn’t argue but she mewed. “It’s what Amberfrost wants and we both know that we’d do anything she says.”
As they stepped inside, Appleleaf introduced herself and Finchwing and said that their commander wanted to interrogate Pinesong for a mission. “She can give us valuable information,” the brown she-cat piped up.
The guard nodded and let them through. “Just don’t touch her. Redstar doesn’t want her tortured.”
“Of course,” Appleleaf dipped her head.
“I wonder why,” Finchwing mused, “Maybe Pinesong has valuable information that she’s giving out to not be punished.”
“Or maybe she has nothing to give so there’s no reason to punish her,” Appleleaf pointed out, “But you’re right, I find it weird that Pinesong isn’t being harmed. Surely Redstar wouldn’t just let her go like that.”
They enter the prison to see Pinesong curled up on the stone floor. She looked up and blinked. She didn’t speak but merely stared at the pair.
“We’re friends of a cat named Amberfrost,” Appleleaf started to say. She peered outside to see the guards stationed outside of her den. They weren’t paying much attention, though Appleleaf lowered her voice just in case.
“She plans on rebelling against the Beauty and making a better FireClan.” She continued, “She sent us here to gain your support and of course your advise.”
The russet brown she-cat looked confused. “Why would you want my advice?” She questioned, “You’ve probably heard the tales told about me at the Academy.”
“Your mission was similar to ours,” Finchwing mewed, “You simply wanted to help to poor but we want to completely destroy the System.”
Pinesong looked slightly interested. “You want my help,” she mewed slowly, “Except how do you expect me to help you? I’m stuck here for life. Redstar doesn’t even care what happens to me, as long as I stay here until I die.”
“Amberfrost promised that if you could help us, we’d help you break out of prison.” Finchwing hurriedly mewed, “We need possible tips and information for defeating redstar.”
“You want advice?” Pinesong shifted slightly, “Stay low and that way no one will suspect you. The more cats who know who you are, the easier it is for you to get caught.”
~
I want you to tone down a rebellion near the east end of camp. There’s been a lot of activity there lately. Report back to me when you’re finished.”
I dip my head and we scoot outside. Appleleaf and Finchwing are “scouting the poor” while the rest of us have to receive another mission.
“I’m not sure if being in the Beauty is the right thing anymore. We’re just hurting the rebels little by little.” I admit, “Though I guess when the rebels need us to sneak them in, we can.”
“That’s going to be too far into the future,” Hawkpelt sighs, “Rainstorm says that there’s too little rebels in the camp to do any of those sorts. There are so many different groups who are doing what they please. We only have a fraction of the rebels here right now.”
“Where’s the leader?” Snowflare asks, “Surely he could gather more cats and lead a rebellion?”
“He’s out conducting business,” Hawkpelt explains, “We’re still trying to deal with the ‘peaceful’ rebels.”
“Why are they fighting us if they don’t want to lose any more lives? Why not just run?” I mutter, frustrated.
The brown tabby shrugs, “Rainstorm says that they have loved ones who are fighting and they can’t leave their loved ones behind. The rebellion leader ordered them to stay at their post. I guess he threatened them or something.”
“I think he should let them go,” Brownhare mews quietly, “There’s no point in trying and wasting our energy on recruiting them. Yes, they’re rebels but we need all our loyal warriors for the real fight against the Beauty.”
“Think of the numbers though!” Lionclaw protests, “There are so many of them out there. With all of them fighting for our cause-”
“We should be able to defeat the rebels,” I snap, interrupting his statement. All of them glance at me with bewilderment but I beam at a pure white she-cat standing behind Lionclaw. “Hello, mother.”
All of my friends whip around and crouch low. Whiteflicker ignores all of them, “Hello, dear!” She purrs, “Off to another mission? I heard that you turned in two rebels. My enemies too! I knew you would make me proud.”
Enemies? I don’t understand why she despises Brownhare’s parents so much. Does that mean she hates Brownhare too? I manage a tight smile. “Yeah, we did that.”
“In no time you’ll be a full general, commanding more than one squad!” She has a dangerous gleam in her eyes, “The rebels won’t stand a chance after that.”
Or do you mean I can no longer work as a double agent? Unease prickles at my belly and I scoot past my mother. “Maybe, but I have to go now. We have a mission to fulfill.”
She gazes after us as we scurry away. “That was a close one,” Lionclaw huffs.
“And whose fault is that?” Snowflare mutters, “We should be more careful. Either we talk about it in codes or we have to do it somewhere private.”
I agreed with her. We are risking too much by trying to discuss matters in public.
“I still think we should let them go though,” Brownhare mutters as we trot away.
I don’t know if I can agree with him for that one. Instead of voicing my opinion, I shrug and head towards our destined area.
The rest of the squad, still bickering quietly, head after me. I can only hope that we can somehow complete this mission and still stay on the good side of Shadowfang.
~
“Stay low…” Appleleaf mused, “What other things should we avoid doing?”
“Avoid crossing over to the poor if you don’t have any new information. Make sure your squad seems useless and can gather information because you don’t have important missions to fulfill.” Pinesong shrugged, “That’s what I can think of.”
Finchwing groaned. “We’ve been doing the exact opposite of that.”
Pinesong looked amused. “Well, sometimes it’s good to be high up in rank. It gives you more power and you have the authority to know some important things.” She paused, “How did you guys climb up so fast?”
“Amberfrost’s mother is Redstar’s high advisor. She convinced Redstar of our ‘loyalty’ and got us into a squad soon after we became warriors. Redstar has been keeping her eyes on us since.”
The brown she-cat shook her head. “It’s weird how much attention you’re getting. My father was a high general but I never got to meet Redstar personally.”
Appleleaf frowned. “Then how come Redstar loves us so much? She’s given us the harshest missions, ones that are hurting the rebels completely.”
The older she-cat thought about it for awhile. “I think Whiteflicker has something to do with it. She’s obviously behind most of this. She may have gotten you a patrol but she might just want to see how far you’ll go before she turns you in to Redstar.”
Silence met her words. “Well that’s depressing,” Finchwing muttered, “We should stay low for the next few missions. Maybe that’ll get her off our case.”
“Fail a few missions,” Pinesong suggested, “Redstar will lose interest in you like that.”
“That wouldn’t work,” Appleleaf shook her head, “Every time we get a mission, it’s always like a threat. Either we complete it, or Redstar will kill us. Plus, I have the feeling that Whiteflicker would just turn us in to Redstar because we’d be no use to her.”
Finchwing frowned. “I don’t like how much control they have over us. It’s hurting us more than it’s hurting them and they know it.”
~
On the outskirts of the camp, everything was a mess. “We have two options here. We can either try to get them to back off in an attack, or we could sneak in and try to negotiate with them then.”
“Sneak in,” all of them chorus.
“It’s safer,” Lionclaw supplies, “As much as I want to show off my amazing fighting skill-”
“What fighting skill?” Snowflare mutters.
The golden tom glares at her and continues, “-I’d rather not do it to them.”
“Don’t worry,” Snowflare mews reassuringly, “Even if we did attack them you wouldn’t do much harm.”
This time Lionclaw actually looks miffed and hurt. He doesn’t reply but turns away. Snowflare rolls her eyes and I sigh as she just promptly ignores the tom instead. Hawkpelt nudges me. “Shouldn’t we get going? There’s a battle going on and this is our best chance to sneak over.”
So caught up in my friends’ argument, I hadn’t realized that Hawkpelt was right. There is a battle raging on right now. “Snowflare, Brownhare, Hawkpelt,” I call out, “You’ll protect us. Lionclaw and I will go in and tell the troops to back down.”
Lionclaw glowers at me while Snowflare snickers. I ignore them both and beckon to Lionclaw as the others flank out to watch for possible dangers.
We edge around the fighting and we don’t get very far before a cat lunges for us. Snowflare, Brownhare, and Hawkpelt scatter around us as they struggled to hold them back. Lionclaw watches all of this with gritted teeth and I know he’s itching for a fight. His loyalty towards me amazes me.
I nudge the golden tom. “We have to go,” I tell him, jerking my head towards the center of the rebel troops. He gives me a pained look.
“Let me fight,” he begs me, “They can’t hold them off for long.”
“That’s why we have to hurry,” I mew, impatient, “and who’s going to protect me if you’re not by my side?”
He perks up, “You should have told me this when Snowflare was around.”
I roll my eyes and push myself through the fighting cats. Lionclaw claws at every cat that gets too close to me.
Shadowfang finds me first. He slips from Lionclaw’s grasp and knocks me over. His eyes glint dangerously and I realize that he’s aiming to kill.
~
“We should go,” Appleleaf said again, “It’s not safe for us to be here. We’re supposed to be ‘scouting the poor’.”
Finchwing nods reluctantly and Pinesong dips her head. “I hope you succeed,” she murmurs, “I truly believe you can do it.”
As they leave, Appleleaf could only hope so.
They walked in silence for a bit and Appleleaf mewed, “So it wasn’t such a bad idea, right?”
The brown she-cat shrugged. “Those were things we already knew. How do you know Amberfrost didn’t have other intentions?”
“What do you mean?” The red and white she-cat asked, shocked, “Are you saying Amberfrost did this intentionally?”
Finchwing only sighed. “I don’t know…I really don’t. But they were receiving a mission, right? What if this was a desperate attempt to get us to safety? Maybe there’s information we’re supposed to gather.”
“What could possibly be more important than getting information from Pinesong?” Appleleaf mused, looking bewildered, “Unless…”
“Brownhare’s parents.”
~
“You okay over there?” The she-cat looked up to see one of the leaders of the rebellion waving to her. “You’ve been looking down.”
“I’m fine,” she reassured the tom, “Just tired.”
“Aren’t we all?” The tom padded over, “Hey, I heard that the others are striking a huge victory over at Main. Maybe Scarlet’s heading that one?”
The she-cat frowned at the mention of the name. “Scarlet is always busy though,” she mutters, “and I believe she’s conducting business right now.”
The tom shrugged, “What a shame. I hope she’ll start helping us soon.”
“I’ll see about that,” she replied, not really processing her words, “I mean, I might see her around and I’ll tell her.”
The tom gives her an appraising look, “You’ve met Scarlet? The infamous prodigy?”
The she-cat turned away and stood. She took a few steps before she replied. “More or less,” she smirked as she then padded on.
~
It takes me a few seconds to realize that I’m not dead. I push myself to my paws and find Lionclaw grappling with Shadowfang.
“What are you doing?” I shout, astonished.
Shadowfang pauses and Lionclaw pins him down. “You’re a traitor to the rebels,” he growls, “Why are you stopping us?”
I grimace. “Redstar ordered us to. And if you want to keep your inner spies where they are, you better back away while you can.”
Shadowfang looks outraged and for a moment I think he’ll say no and proceed to kill Lionclaw or something.
The rebellion general sighs and roughly pushes an astonished Lionclaw away. “Just this one time, Amberfrost, I’ll let you win.”
He races away and shouts. “Retreat! Rebels, retreat!”
I watch in amazement as the rebel troops peel away. We succeeded again in saving our lives.
Somehow.
The End.